This steaming cauldron of red chili salsa is the work of nuns at Puebla’s church of Santo Domingo. The city is also known for its mole poblano—legend has it that the mole was invented by nuns in the seventeenth century when the archbishop unexpectedly dropped by.

Photograph by Peden & Munk

Cerveza time at Cholula's El Rincón de Rivadavia restaurant.

Photograph by Peden & Munk

The Coronel suite at Hacienda San Gabriel was an administrator’s office in the resort’s former incarnation (one of many) as Mexico’s largest sugar plantation.

Photograph by Peden & Munk

The active volcano Popocatépetl, seen from the road between Puebla and Cuernavaca, has erupted twice this year, causing high clouds and ash but no loss of life or property.

Photograph by Peden & Munk

Metropolitan Cathedral, one of the oldest Catholic churches in the Americas, sits atop what was an Aztec holy site in Mexico City.